i've always found pop to be harder to play than metal... especially shred metal... it's just really fast tremolo picking and the occasional palm mute... and the only chords you have to worry about are power chords...

I love Allan and he's irreplacable - there will only ever be one. I plan to see him next time he's through England (possibly Ireland?). There's very little I can really add to this thread, but I'm really happy to see it.

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Ruhkukah

Omg. The slide stretch beast lick in that blows my mind every time - and the way Holdsy references the previous keyboard solo as well.

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I always find myself giggling at Peril Premonition, where Holdsy says " 'Ello! Is thut the frunt desk?!" in the thickest of Bradfordian accents.

Best of it is the change to the sunny ending of the song after all that incredible atmosphere.

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When you see him up close doing his thing, he makes a guitar look like a toy whilst playing.

Thats the second time I've heard exactly that phrase used to describe Holdsy live.

I like his clean chorus chordy stuff and his outside fast playing, yet his slower melodic side leaves a lot to be desired IMO. There's little flow and his vibrato (or lack of) makes his playing sound cold and expressionless.

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Mario 'Big Dawg' Williams: "I come to you, venerable master, in order to be introduced to the rules and principles of music"

I like his clean chorus chordy stuff and his outside fast playing, yet his slower melodic side leaves a lot to be desired IMO. There's little flow and his vibrato (or lack of) makes his playing sound cold and expressionless.

^ I can see where he's coming from, though. From what I can deduce, there seems to be 3 camps of Holdsworth appreciator - the first kind (such as myself), who marvel in awe at everything he does; the second kind (like griffRG7321), who may not find all aspects of his playing to be so appealing; and the third, who just don't 'get it' and disregard him as some misguided hack of a fusion player, simply through lack of comprehension.

As for this quote in particular...

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Originally Posted by griffRG7321

his slower melodic side leaves a lot to be desired IMO. There's little flow and his vibrato (or lack of) makes his playing sound cold and expressionless.

... all I can say is that his lead style cannot possibly hope to appeal to everyone. There's just no way it can. Inevitably you're going to have your Paul Gilbert worshippers who go absolutely apeshit upon hearing him add some "oh-so emotional and meaningful" vibrato to a single note, whilst some of us go similarly apeshit at the sound of Holdsworth doing a long-ass legato slide from one note to a (seemingly) completely random one.

IMO the idea for us, the latter, is that Holdsworth's shifts whilst playing slow are intended to throw our brains off. It's not designed to be your simplistic Gilbert rock n' roll party with a good time to be had - rather, I've always interpreted it as music to make the mind think. So whilst some may find his lack of "flow" or explicit direction to be "cold" and "expressionless", I find it a joy to listen to. It keeps me on my toes with the anticipation of what crazy shift or subtle nuance he's going throw at my ears next.

A great example of this would be in Low Levels, High Stakes, at the precise part where his distorted lead tone enters the song (somewhere in the middle, after the keys and bass solo). Listen to it and tab it out. Look at the note order and play it for yourself. None of it makes any sense whatsoever, does it? I mean, sure, Shawn Lane often ventured into outside playing but that is some seriously weird shit Holdsworth is doing!

The guy throws 7 chromatic notes together, sequenced in a totally dissonant way that only has 3 notes which are diatonically connected to it somehow (which at least creates some consonance), yet there doesn't appear to be any kind of reasoning for why he's choosing those notes - but to him, it all makes perfect sense. I just love that. We're hearing the ideas of a man who has no regard for what the audience would perceive as "normal", but is completely normal to him. All we can do is sit and wonder, and enjoy it if we want to.

So yeah, this "emotion" stuff is overrated when it comes to guitar. Sometimes I genuinely want to think about the notes being played, as opposed to "letting go" and all that lame shit I often hear about David Gilmour's playing.

^ I can see where he's coming from, though. From what I can deduce, there seems to be 3 camps of Holdsworth appreciator - the first kind (such as myself), who marvel in awe at everything he does; the second kind (like griffRG7321), who may not find all aspects of his playing to be so appealing; and the third, who just don't 'get it' and disregard him as some misguided hack of a fusion player, simply through lack of comprehension.

As for this quote in particular...

... all I can say is that his lead style cannot possibly hope to appeal to everyone. There's just no way it can. Inevitably you're going to have your Paul Gilbert worshippers who go absolutely apeshit upon hearing him add some "oh-so emotional and meaningful" vibrato to a single note, whilst some of us go similarly apeshit at the sound of Holdsworth doing a long-ass legato slide from one note to a (seemingly) completely random one.

IMO the idea for us, the latter, is that Holdsworth's shifts whilst playing slow are intended to throw our brains off. It's not designed to be your simplistic Gilbert rock n' roll party with a good time to be had - rather, I've always interpreted it as music to make the mind think. So whilst some may find his lack of "flow" or explicit direction to be "cold" and "expressionless", I find it a joy to listen to. It keeps me on my toes with the anticipation of what crazy shift or subtle nuance he's going throw at my ears next.

A great example of this would be in Low Levels, High Stakes, at the precise part where his distorted lead tone enters the song (somewhere in the middle, after the keys and bass solo). Listen to it and tab it out. Look at the note order and play it for yourself. None of it makes any sense whatsoever, does it? I mean, sure, Shawn Lane often ventured into outside playing but that is some seriously weird shit Holdsworth is doing!

The guy throws 7 chromatic notes together, sequenced in a totally dissonant way that only has 3 notes which are diatonically connected to it somehow (which at least creates some consonance), yet there doesn't appear to be any kind of reasoning for why he's choosing those notes - but to him, it all makes perfect sense. I just love that. We're hearing the ideas of a man who has no regard for what the audience would perceive as "normal", but is completely normal to him. All we can do is sit and wonder, and enjoy it if we want to.

So yeah, this "emotion" stuff is overrated when it comes to guitar. Sometimes I genuinely want to think about the notes being played, as opposed to "letting go" and all that lame shit I often hear about David Gilmour's playing.

I was agreeing with this post up until the last paragraph. To me, personally, "playing with emotion" means being to hear what you want to play, and then being able to play it exactly as you want it interpreted. Both Holdsworth and Gilmour are fantastic at this as is/was Jimi Hendrix, Guthrie Govan, Shawn Lane, SRV, Malmsteen, Morse, and Petrucci. HOWEVER, you have to admit that there is a certain appeal to being able to think up a brilliant melody that is both memorable and something your average listener can grab onto. Look at the Moonlight Sonata for example: which movement does your average person identify more with? The crazy ass arpeggios, pedal tones, counterpoint, and overall holy crapness of the third movement or the beautifully constructed and slower first movement? It takes brilliant technical skill to play the first, but in some ways it takes a better songwriter and musician to play the later (of course Beethoven had both down to a ridiculous degree). While I do greatly enjoy Holdsworth's music, there is really only a certain amount of playing I can take at a time. Eventually the whole "surprise" element of his crazy licks can get a bit old when you're expecting it.

IMO the idea for us, the latter, is that Holdsworth's shifts whilst playing slow are intended to throw our brains off. It's not designed to be your simplistic Gilbert rock n' roll party with a good time to be had - rather, I've always interpreted it as music to make the mind think. So whilst some may find his lack of "flow" or explicit direction to be "cold" and "expressionless", I find it a joy to listen to. It keeps me on my toes with the anticipation of what crazy shift or subtle nuance he's going throw at my ears next.

A great example of this would be in Low Levels, High Stakes, at the precise part where his distorted lead tone enters the song (somewhere in the middle, after the keys and bass solo). Listen to it and tab it out. Look at the note order and play it for yourself. None of it makes any sense whatsoever, does it? I mean, sure, Shawn Lane often ventured into outside playing but that is some seriously weird shit Holdsworth is doing!

The guy throws 7 chromatic notes together, sequenced in a totally dissonant way that only has 3 notes which are diatonically connected to it somehow (which at least creates some consonance), yet there doesn't appear to be any kind of reasoning for why he's choosing those notes - but to him, it all makes perfect sense. I just love that. We're hearing the ideas of a man who has no regard for what the audience would perceive as "normal", but is completely normal to him. All we can do is sit and wonder, and enjoy it if we want to.

Look up the nine note augmented scale (unless you already know about it )

His legato is ludicrously loud. I actually had to watch and check what he was picking sometimes there. Crazy.

Not to mention, clean and more than a little nippy. Bit dull for him imho... oh wait, now that the band's kicked in properly now he sounds like Holdsy again.

Reminds me a bit of the old Shawn Lane at 16 solo spots... lots of energy to burn off and lots of chops but the ideas lack restraint and shape. (not that that'd necessarily a bad thing but you can hear neither is used to playing effectively unaccompanied)